Coronavirus: Andrews backs PM’s plan for ‘close to normal’ Christmas

Daniel Andrews has largely supported Scott Morrison’s goal of having state and international borders reopened in time for Christmas.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Daniel Pockett

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has largely backed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s goal of having state and international borders reopened in time for Christmas.

Mr Morrison told the Sunday Herald Sun he hopes life will have returned to normal by the end of the year, with more than 80 per cent of the nation vaccinated, allowing people able to enjoy a large family Christmas meal, nights out with friends, a New Year’s Eve party and proper summer holidays.

“Without getting into a debate about who’s responsible for what in our federation, I think the most important thing is that surely we could all agree with that, we could all work as hard as we can to make that real,” Mr Andrews said on Sunday.

However, he cautioned that with only 37.2 per cent of Victorians double dose vaccinated, the task of keeping Covid case numbers low remains crucial.

“Even though we are not chasing zero any more, we are chasing the lowest number of new cases every day,” Mr Andrews said.

“Every 10 cases that are avoided is a hospital admission avoided, or put it the other way: every 10 cases that we stand here and report, that means one extra person, at least, is finishing up in hospital.

“Not only do I want Christmas to be as close to normal as possible, I want to do everything I can and appeal to our community to join me in that work to make sure that the tasks, the burden, the challenge that particularly our nurses will face in the coming weeks and months, let’s not make that job any harder than is already is.

“That’s an important part on the way to a Christmas where hopefully Australia has opened up and we have got 80 per cent-plus of our community through the vaccination program.”

Amid threats from premiers including Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland and Mark McGowan in Perth that they will not reopen their states even after the 80 per cent target is reached, Mr Andrews said the most important task was reaching and exceeding the goal.

“I think getting to 80 per cent vax is much more important than whether you can go to Queensland, frankly, or whether you go to Perth,” he said.

“I’ll leave those border arguments to others. I want to get our community through the vaccination program.”

Victoria records 183 new cases

Almost three quarters, or 73 per cent, of Victoria’s active coronavirus cases are in people aged under 40.

Of 1,417 active cases, 216 are in people aged 0-9, 232 were in people aged 10-19, 348 were in people in their 20s, and 245 in those in their 30s.

Of Sunday’s 183 new cases, 91 per cent are in people aged under 50s.

There are 89 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus on Sunday, including 24 in intensive care, of whom 13 are on ventilators.

Only one of those in hospital is fully vaccinated.

Victoria today recorded 183 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours to midnight on Saturday night.

Of the 183 new cases, 101 have so far been linked to known outbreaks, meaning there are 82 new cases with an unknown source of acquisition.

Victoria’s health department is yet to release information about how many of the 183 were in isolation for the duration of their infectious period.

Reported yesterday: 183 new local cases and 0 new cases acquired overseas.
- 29,950 vaccine doses were administered
- 48,487 test results were received

More later: https://t.co/lIUrl1hf3W#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicData [1/2] pic.twitter.com/ZbMdc2j30q

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) September 4, 2021

Sunday’s 82 new mystery cases add to 357 cases which were under investigation as of Saturday afternoon, bringing the state’s total number of mystery cases to 439.

The 183 new infections follow 190 on Saturday, the outbreak peak of 208 on Friday, 176 on Thursday, 120 on Wednesday, 76 on Tuesday, 73 on Monday, and 92 last Sunday.

Victorian Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar said a new case in Wodonga in the state’s northeast was a truck driver who had visited a series of interstate exposure sites, but had not visited any in Victoria.

“As soon as he became symptomatic he went and got tested and isolated at home. My thanks to him for doing that so swiftly. It’s a critical part of us continuing to support the interstate freight industry” Mr Weimar said.

There have been no further cases at the Japara aged care facility in Carrum, in Melbourne’s bayside outer southeast, where a fully vaccinated staff member tested positive on Friday.

A health worker at Northern Health has tested positive, but their infection is believed to have been acquired outside the hospital. Mr Weimar said the person had been tested regularly and had returned negative results up until their positive test on Saturday. “We’re just working through potential exposure sites and other staff impacts,” he said.

More than 30 cases have recently been identified in a retail strip in Roxburgh Park and Coolaroo in Melbourne’s outer north. Mr Weimar said there had been close engagement with local traders and the local community, with anyone who has shopped in the area recently urged to get tested.

There are now 63 cases linked to a construction site in Box Hill in Melbourne’s outer east.

A new cluster of 14 cases has emerged at another construction site - Classy Kitchens in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s outer north.

Health department authorised officers conducted 900 compliance visits to homes where people are supposed to be isolating on Saturday, detecting strong compliance.

Mr Weimar said industry engagement teams had visited more than 600 construction sites over the past four weeks, with more than 90 per cent found to be compliant.

“We have found a small number, less than 10 per cent, who weren’t compliant - 54 sites where, particularly in that light commercial construction sector where masks wearing wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, site registers were not as strong as they needed to be, cleaning arrangements were not as strong as they needed to be, and it’s in those kinds of gaps that we can see cases like the Box Hill construction site suddenly jump to 60 plus positive cases if you’ve got those gaps in your systems and protocols,” he said.

“That’s where Covid will get in and will spread rapidly across your workforce and across your site. We have of course issued a number of enforcement notices to those sites who are not complying.”

Mr Weimar said approximately 6000 people a day had been claiming the Andrews government’s $450 payment for workers without sick leave entitlements to get tested and isolate.

The current outbreak emerged four and a half weeks ago, amid short-lived celebrations of a zero case day on August 4 – the day before the state’s sixth lockdown was announced.

There are currently 1,417 active cases, including up to four active cases acquired overseas.

As of Saturday, there were 76 people in Victorian hospitals with coronavirus, including 23 in intensive care, of whom 14 were on ventilators.

The latest cases come after 48,487 tests were processed on Saturday, compared with 49,548 on Friday, 48,572 on Thursday, 48,372 on Wednesday, 56,501 on Tuesday, 50,848 on Monday, 41,395 on Sunday and 51,030 last Saturday.

Victoria’s testing record is 59,355 tests on July 20.

Victoria’s areas of concern

Victorian Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar said a new case in Wodonga in the state’s northeast was a truck driver who had visited a series of interstate exposure sites, but had not visited any in Victoria.

“As soon as he became symptomatic he went and got tested and isolated at home. My thanks to him for doing that so swiftly. It’s a critical part of us continuing to support the interstate freight industry” Mr Weimar said.

There have been no further cases at the Japara aged care facility in Carrum, in Melbourne’s bayside outer southeast, where a fully vaccinated staff member tested positive on Friday.

A health worker at Northern Health has tested positive, but their infection is believed to have been acquired outside the hospital. Mr Weimar said the person had been tested regularly and had returned negative results up until their positive test on Saturday. “We’re just working through potential exposure sites and other staff impacts,” he said.

More than 30 cases have recently been identified in a retail strip in Roxburgh Park and Coolaroo in Melbourne’s outer north. Mr Weimar said there had been close engagement with local traders and the local community, with anyone who has shopped in the area recently urged to get tested.

There are now 63 cases linked to a construction site in Box Hill in Melbourne’s outer east.

A new cluster of 14 cases has emerged at another construction site - Classy Kitchens in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s outer north.

Health department authorised officers conducted 900 compliance visits to homes where people are supposed to be isolating on Saturday, detecting strong compliance.

Mr Weimar said industry engagement teams had visited more than 600 construction sites over the past four weeks, with more than 90 per cent found to be compliant.

“We have found a small number, less than 10 per cent, who weren’t compliant - 54 sites where, particularly in that light commercial construction sector where masks wearing wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, site registers were not as strong as they needed to be, cleaning arrangements were not as strong as they needed to be, and it’s in those kinds of gaps that we can see cases like the Box Hill construction site suddenly jump to 60 plus positive cases if you’ve got those gaps in your systems and protocols,” he said.

“That’s where Covid will get in and will spread rapidly across your workforce and across your site. We have of course issued a number of enforcement notices to those sites who are not complying.”

Mr Weimar said approximately 6000 people a day had been claiming the Andrews government’s $450 payment for workers without sick leave entitlements to get tested and isolate.